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Saturday, 30 July 2011

A friend gave me a bottle of Perfect Pearls 'Perfect Pearl' Mist as a gift and also gave me the recycled kraft A6 card blank. I've used them to make a thank you card to give to her. I inked the Three Ferns stamp with two colours of ink, stamped the Weathered background over the top and sponged the edges. I then spritzed the panel with the Perfect Pearl Mist. Oooh, it's so lovely and shimmery, I love it! There are other colours in the range of Perfect Pearls Mists and now I've had a go I'm planning to buy the gold one which I think will be fab for Christmas cards.

Next I made a foofy flower by scrunching up three punched Rich Razzleberry Fancy Flower shapes which I spritzed before adding the brad. After diecutting the doily border I also gave that a pearly spritz but I left the Pear Pizzazz strip plain. I used the Modern Label punch for the Thank You sentiment from the Curly Cute set

I then decorated the envelope and the inside of the card. The small flowers on the sentiment are punched shapes from the SU! Itty Bitty Punches pack. I added small clear gems to the flower centres. I wasn't sure about these kraft card blanks, I felt they were a bit dark. Now I've tried one I've decided I really like them!

Friday, 29 July 2011

The SU! Scandinavian Season set never really did anything for me so I didn't buy it. I saw a lovely card Jan made with it and that made me think I'd quite like a play with the set so Jan kindly lent me the stamps. First off I made a Christmas card with the tree image and used a non traditional colour combo of pink and aqua with white. The flower on the tree is popped up and I added an aqua gem.

I then stamped a sentiment and snowflakes inside the card. For the envelope flap I stamped the star image twice, once in pink and again in aqua and I cut the pink flower out and glued it on top of the aqua star.

I used that odd looking image in the set for my next card. To be honest I wasn't sure what it was so I looked at the Splitcoast Stampers gallery for this set and discovered it was a mitten! I decided to make a pair of mittens and dangle them in an aperture. There's only one mitten image in the set and I wanted a pair. To get both right and left hand mittens I had to stamp a mirror image. I have some plain shadow stamps in my stash that I've had for years and they work brilliantly for mirror image stamping. I inked the mitten with VersaMark ink, stamped it on the shadow stamp and then stamped that onto the Cherry Cobbler CS. First I tried using Cherry Cobbler ink but there was a marked difference in the ink colours after stamping that I wasn't happy with, even though I tried stamping off. I found it better to use VersaMark ink and then emboss with white embossing powder.

So once I had my pair of mittens I added a string using SU! Linen thread. I made a three panel card by cutting an A4 piece of Cherry Cobbler CS to the normal height of an A6 size portrait card and then cut it to 27 cms wide and scored lines at 9 and 18 cms. I cut a rectangular aperture out of the middle panel, added a Crumb Cake embossed panel so that would show through and added a white embossed frame around the aperture. I dangled the mittens behind and then folded the outside panel back and attached it with 3d foam pads so there is room for the mittens to dangle within the aperture. I added the sentiment and the snowflake circle and popped on some red gems.

I put a snowflake circle on the envelope flap. For inside the card I added a white panel with embossing on the bottom and a Crumb Cake strip. I haven't added a sentiment as I'm not sure what I'll use the card for. It could be Christmas, a winter birthday, a post Christmas thank you or a winter 'just because' card so I'll add an appropriate sentiment or leave it blank when the time comes to send it.

For the last card I used the star image to make a non seasonal card. I saw some striking packaging a few days ago that paired colours really close to Elegant Eggplant and Baja Breeze so I used those with white for my colour combo. I stamped the sentiment first - you know, just in case I fluffed it, there's nothing worse than stamping the sentiment last on an assembled card and mucking it up! Anyway, this time it turned out fine! I then used Nestie dies for the image panel. I stamped the flower on Baja Breeze CS separately, cut it out and glued it over the top of the star. I added a lovely bluey, purpley iridescent gem in the centre. The Eggplant square is popped up. To finish off I added Eggplant ribbon to the card and stamped the star on the envelope flap. Unusually for me, I've left the inside plain!

I'm glad I had a play with the set but I have to say I'm still not sold on it, I won't be scouring eBay for it!

Wednesday, 27 July 2011

Oh my giddy aunt, I fell completely in love with these butterfly Post It notes Becky showed on her Inking Idaho blog. So sweet, and butterfly shaped Post It notes - what's not to love?! I found that a 3" x 3" Post It pad wasn't big enough to cut out the entire butterfly. I used a 5" x 3" Post It note pad and cut off a tad over 1 1/2" from the side which means I have some mini Post It note pads to use as well!

Keeping the notes together, I pulled 20 sheets off the pad - you can make 5 of these from one pad if you use 20 sheets, 4 if you use 25 sheets. I tried 25 sheets as well and the Big Shot happily die cut those in one go. I then die cut two large butterflies from Pink Pirouette CS as front and back covers. I glued the back Post It note sheet to one large pink butterfly and I embossed the other one with the Vintage Wallpaper folder. I then joined the two large pink butterfly pieces together with a book ring after punching a hole with the Crop-A-Dile. I die cut two more butterflies to decorate the front, I kept the Melon Mambo shape plain but I stamped the smaller Pink Pirouette shape with the Bella Toile stamp using Melon Mambo ink. I fixed those to the front with glue dots and added clear rhinestones.

Here's the inside showing the butterfly shaped Post It notes. What a happy little project to work on! I just need to get more book rings and I'll be all set to make more of these cuties!

Monday, 25 July 2011

This is a one layer card I made using the Stampendous Agapanthus Thank You clear set that I will use as a BRAK card. I deliberately kept it to a one layer card after a trip to the Post Office to send off some BRAK cards which cost me £1.65 each to post! I'm obviously not keeping the cards flat or light enough!

I bought a pack of PaperMania 300 gsm square white card blanks recently. When I got the first card out of the pack I noticed the card had a slight texture so I was a tad concerned if it was going to be OK to stamp onto. The cards are so smooth, despite the slight texture, that the sentiment and images stamped perfectly! These are lovely cards, a really good weight for card bases. I inked the flower stems with Bamboo Leaves ink and used Grape Jelly for the flower heads and sentiment. I rounded the top right corner of the card. As a final touch to the front I added a touch of twinkle by dotting a Sakura clear Stardust pen on the flowers.

I then did some stamping on the envelope and inside the card. I really love these Agapanthus stamps, this is one of my favourite flower sets!

Saturday, 23 July 2011

Carol from my card group very kindly gave me a bagful of card making magazines so I've been happily browsing. A butterflies card I saw in the June issue of Cardmaking & Papercraft really took my fancy - hmmm, butterflies, what a surprise! The card (actually it was a wedding invitation) used the Wild Rose Studio 'Wedding Butterflies' set which has 5 butterflies all with a rose pattern. It just so happened that the Glitter Pot had the set on the shelf last time I paid a visit so I picked a set up!

I stuck pretty much to the layout of the card in the mag as I liked it so much but I used fewer layers and butterflies and no patterned paper. My card measures 12 cms square. I stamped the Fern Lace background stamp onto a Pink Pirouette panel using Victorian Velvet distress ink. I inked the edges of the pink panel plus the plain white circle and stamped the sentiment with Victorian Velvet ink too. This is a new colour for me and so far I love it! I scored the butterflies so I could pop the wings up a bit and then I added gems to the bodies.

I then stamped a sentiment and butterflies inside the card and a butterfly on the envelope flap.

Friday, 22 July 2011

I really like the sketch over at the Simply Stampin' Challenge blog so I definitely wanted to play along. I thought I wouldn't make it in time, I don't know where this week has gone! Here's the sketch:

I started off by choosing some patterned paper and then I decided on my colour combo from there. I made an A6 side opening card with Perfect Plum CS, stamped the sentiment, added my Old Olive punched border and the patterned paper strip. LOVE that sentiment, in fact I love all the sentiments in the Swirls & Curls Verses set, I'm so glad I got this set from eBay! I embossed the Elegant Eggplant strip with the Square Lattice folder. I then got to the stamping using the Printed Petals and Button Button sets for my flowers. I die cut a Little Leaves stem and cut it into three parts. I punched the buttons out after stamping and I punched a few more circles and stacked them up so the buttons are more dimensional. The flowers are popped up. I then rounded the top right corner of the card.

I then stamped the envelope and the panel inside the card. I stamped the line of flowers from the Printed Petals set on the white panel and it occurred to me that the flowers in the Itty Bitty Bits set are more or less the same. So I stamped four Itty Bitty flowers in Elegant Eggplant ink, punched them out and glued them over the top of my line of Old Olive flowers. I'm happy how this card turned out and I really love this layout, I will return to this sketch again!

Thursday, 21 July 2011

I absolutely love this Hero Arts Three Ferns stamp, it's gorgeous! For Alan's birthday card I started off with a Chocolate Chip 12 cms square card base with an Old Olive mat layer. I inked the stamp first with Shabby Shutters ink and I then added Peeled Paint and Chocolate Chip inks using sponge daubers. Before stamping the image onto the Whisper White CS I spritzed the stamp with water. I had an "oooooooooh" moment after I'd stamped - after years of stamping I still get those oooooh moments when you get a beautiful stamped image! I love how this stamped image turns out when you use multiple colour inks! I then stamped the Weathered background over the top with Antique Linen ink and sponged the edges. I added the sentiment oval and gold nailheads to finish the card front.

I then stamped and sponged a panel for inside the card.

I stamped and punched a circle element for the envelope. Part of Alan's gift from us was a big choccy bar. I wrapped it in Old Olive patterned paper, made a tag and tied it to the gift with Chocolate Chip ribbon. I must say I was very happy with this card and tag, I really like the warm feel it has. I actually enjoyed making a masculine card - it's a miracle LOL! Let's hope Alan likes it too!

I thought it was time my CandleLights had a makeover and I made some fern vellum sleeves for them. I stamped the Three Ferns on the vellum with Whisper White craft ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder. I taped the sleeves round the back and added some Old Olive taffeta ribbon. Very simple but I really like them! Here they are switched off.

Wednesday, 20 July 2011

We went to Joanne's last night for our monthly SU! Make & Take and a good time was had by all! It was worth going just for the chocolate cupcakes and sticky biscuits, never mind the crafting!

The first card I tackled was this daisy windows card, which I LOVE, what a fab design! Joanne had made a CS template with the 3 squares punched out so we laid that over the card front, traced the squares and then punched out our squares. We did the same thing to a separate piece of CS. We had 3 squares of Cajun Craze CS cut a bit bigger than the square windows which we die cut with the largest daisy on the Daisies #2 die, making sure to place the CS off to the side so the hole wasn't central. We then applied glue just to the edges of the daisy cut outs and glued them behind the windows and then glued the separate CS piece behind so the daisies are neatly sandwiched. A piece of dotty paper was glued to the inside which is visible through the daisy windows. A stamped sentiment finished off the front. This card design works equally well in landscape or portrait orientation. I was a pain and used a different sentiment to the one Joanne used. Joanne had used the 'happy birthday' from the Occasional Greetings set. Curly Cute, with that gorgeous font, is one of my fave sentiment sets at the moment so I wanted to use the happy birthday from that set instead.

Next we made a card with a punch art bluebird - isn't he sweet? Lots of punches out on the table for this one! His body is 1 3/4" circle, wings are from the Scallop Circle punch, chest is the 1 3/8" circle inserted into 1 3/4" circle punch and punched at about halfway, feet and head tuft are made with flowers from the Boho Blossoms punch, the beak is the smallest heart from the Heart to Heart punch, the white eyes use the 1/2" circle punch and the Early Espresso eyes are made with the smaller circles on the Two-Step Owl punch. The leaves are die cut from the Little Leaves Sizzlits die.

We embossed the Marina Mist panel with the Square Lattice folder, added a So Saffron mat, glued the leaves to the white panel and popped the assembled bird up. Detailing was added to the eyes and beak using a white gel pen. The sentiment was punched out with the Modern Label punch and that was the card finished. A lovely end to a very happy evening!

Tuesday, 19 July 2011

I recently bought the SU! Fancy Flower punch and was chuffed to find the 5-Petal Flower punch shape looks fab layered over it. I haven't made a tent topper card in a long while so I decided to make one of those. I used a combo of Wild Wasabi, Night of Navy, Tempting Turquoise, Marina Mist and Whisper White. I've not used much Night of Navy in the past but I'm really liking it these days. I wasn't at all fond of those old SU! blues but I love the new colours since the renovation so I'm definitely using more blue in my card making nowadays!

I started off with a Wild Wasabi card measuring a tad over 4" square and I embossed the bottom with a dotty embossing folder. I used my Wonky Rectangle Nestie dies for the image panel, stamped the leaf and stem and added the punched grass border. To make the bloom I punched three of each flower shape, scrunched them up a good few times, sponged the edges of the Marina Mist shapes, spritzed each flower with glimmer mist and attached the bloom to the card with a rhinestone brad. I stamped the sweet birdie, cut him out, added a gem eye and popped him up. A strip of Night of Navy card, some turquoise ribbon and a popped up punched sentiment element finished the card front.

I stamped a sentiment and stems and flowers from the Sweet Summer set and coloured them with inks and a blender pen for the envelope and inside the card.

Sunday, 17 July 2011

The SU! Watercolor Trio set is one I got from eBay in the USA recently, it's such a pretty set and the sentiments have a lovely font! I got the stamps out the other day and made three birthday cards. As they're not too dimensional they'll be easy to post so these will all be BRAK cards. The flowers for each card were inked with markers and spritzed with water before stamping, I love the watercolour look this adds to the images!

The first card uses Wild Wasabi, Regal Rose, Early Espresso and Whisper White CS. I've used a Summer Sun marker to add a touch of yellow to the flowers. I used the Early Espresso marker to draw a body and antennae for the butterfly and I've added Dazzling Diamonds just to the butterfly. I tried my new MFT Dainty Doily Border die for the first time - gorgeous, I LOVE it! I find border dies so much less frustrating than border punches, lining up the punches gives me fits and I waste so much CS when I don't line up properly! I have tried so many times with the EK Success border punch I recently purchased and I've now admitted defeat and treated myself to this doily border die. Yes, I have to spend a while poking bits out of the die with a pin but I'd rather that than muck up my edges each time! I do love my SU! Eyelet Border punch though as that gives me no problems at all. I've probably tempted fate saying that now LOL!

Here's the inside and envelope.

The second card has a colour combo of Rose Red, Wild Wasabi, Pink Pirouette and Whisper White. The flowers were inked with Regal Rose, Rose Red and Wild Wasabi markers. I textured the Pink Pirouette panel with an Ellison weave texture plate and then brayered Pink Pirouette ink over the top. I punched holes in the Wild Wasabi oval and threaded the white organza ribbon through and tied it in a knot. I sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds on the flowers. I put embossed Rose Red butterflies on the photo corners and added a pink gem to each butterfly. This image is definitely my favourite from the set, it's so pretty and delicate!

Here's the inside and envelope.

For card three I used Old Olive, Rose Red, Early Espresso and I stamped on watercolour paper. The flowers were stamped with Old Olive, Regal Rose, Rose Red and Summer Sun markers. There's only one larger flower on the stem image but I inked just the flower with markers and added a second one to the other side of the stem. Rectangle and Wonky Rectangle Nestabilities dies were used for the image and mat layers. This time I used the birthday wishes sentiment from the So Happy For You set 'cos the postie had just delivered it LOL! I die cut the doily border again with Rose Red CS for this card.

I put a white paper insert inside the card and added a sentiment with an Old Olive doily border. After stamping the flower stem image I punched it out with the Decorative Label punch and added an Early Espresso border and I popped that on the front of the envelope.

Wednesday, 13 July 2011

Flower Fancy is an SU! two-step stamping set which I discovered on eBay. I thought it was a retired set but I found out it's still current in the USA. I love two-step stamp sets and this one is more contemporary than the other two-step floral sets I have and I decided it would be a good choice to add to my stash. I LOVE this set - I'm so glad I got it!

Michelle from the Card Grotto lost her grandad recently and I wanted to send her a card. I kept things fairly simple with a one layer card which measures just a tad under 5" square. I stamped the outlines with Early Espresso ink and the solid flowers with stamped off Rich Razzleberry with Marina Mist centres. The solid leaves were stamped in Pear Pizzazz. After stamping the sentiment I rounded two corners, added some gems and the Rich Razzleberry taffeta ribbon to finish the card front.

Then I stamped the envelope and the inside of the card with the flower stem image from the set.

Monday, 11 July 2011

I checked out this weeks Simply Stampin' challenge to find it is anything but a card. Kirei's decorated tealights leapt out at me, I love them! I saw a tealight lollipop idea ages ago and made a mental note to make one. I got some wooden coffee stirrers months ago but still didn't get round to making one. Kirei's project reminded me of it and I dashed off to my craft room with a tealight, dug out the tissue paper and fired up the heat gun. I love candles and tealights and I always have loads on hand. I've recently bought some tealights that are less deep than usual (a tad under 1/2") and they burn for around 3.5 hours. I thought a thinner tealight would be ideal for this project.

I covered the metal tealight case with a strip of patterned paper. I stamped the flower from the SU! Always set on the tissue paper, punched the central hole for the wick to go through and then punched it out with a 1 1/2" circle punch - making sure to have a piece of CS behind. I then used my heat gun to melt the tissue circle into the tealight. I set that aside and punched my large flowers, one from patterned paper and two from Rose Red CS - I glued the paper one to a CS flower for a bit of extra strength. I trimmed my coffee stirrer a bit at one end and I used PVA glue to stick it to the CS flower. I then sandwiched the two flower shapes together with foam dimensionals. I punched a 1 3/4" Rose Red circle and used glue dots to fix the tealight to this circle. I die cut leaves and glued those behind the stick. Here's how it looks at this point.

I then put the tealight flower in a cellophane bag, tied it closed with some elastic cord and added a ribbon bow. I stamped and punched a tag which I tied on with some silver thread. I stamped a small flower from the Always set and was delighted to find the tiny flower punch from the SU! Itty Bitty Punch Pack punches it out perfectly! I popped this up over the larger stamped flower. An ideal "little something for you" gift - or as my friend Jan would say - "just a little bit of nonsense". A sweet little token nonetheless!

EDITED TO ADD: I wasn't sure how these would burn when lit and I wanted to check it out before I gave one to somebody. I decorated another tealight with stamped tissue paper and lit it and it was fine so now I know they're safe to give away and use!

It was Owen's birthday on Saturday and this is the card I made for him using my Inkadinkado Music Inchie clear stamp set. Owen has a very wide taste in music but blues is his favourite genre so I was chuffed to see the set had a blues inchie included! Poor Owen gets teased mercilessly by me Debbie and Mike about his unusual musical taste - we always call the blues "my mama done tole me" music. I bought Owen a pile of CDs from his Amazon wish list. Debs and Mike came round on Saturday and we listened to a few tracks and I'm afraid it led to much hilarity and lots more ribbing for Owen! Bless him, he's so long suffering and he takes it very well - and writes us off as a bunch of philistines!

I used Tempting Turquoise, Night of Navy and Whisper White CS and all the stamping was done using Memento Bahama Blue ink. I popped up three of the panels. I used a die to make the brackety edge, used a sentiment from the Curly Cute set and added some silver metal pearls.

I then stamped more images from the set for the envelope and the inside of the card. The volume knob that goes up to 11, inspired by the Spinal Tap movie, just tickles me no end so I had to add that! I'm happy to report that Owen loved his card!

About Me

Hello, I'm Ruth Muzeen and I live with my hubby Owen and our cat Tingha in Burgess Hill, West Sussex.
Thanks for visiting to look at my creations, please click on a card photo in any blog post to get a larger view. I have categorised albums of my cards available to view on Google Photos. Just click on the category name to go to the relevant album. Please do leave any comments you have, it will be so nice to hear from you! For more info, please see the About Me - Extended tab up at the top.